Dreams Are What Le Cinema Is For: The Conversation - 1974

THE CONVERSATION 1974 lecinemadreams.blogspot.com /2017/05/the-conversation-1974.html

Warning: Spoiler Alert. This is a critical essay, not a review. Therefore, many crucial plot points are revealed and referenced for the purpose of analysis. If you've never seen The Conversation and are interested, don't spoil your fun. The mystery is too good.

Although Francis Ford Coppola began writing his script sometime in the late ‘60s, and the film went into production well before all the details of the Watergate scandal became known to the public (it was released mere months before then-President Nixon’s resignation); few ‘70s films capture the wary pessimism of post-Watergate America quite like The Conversation. A small-budget, studio-interference free, auteur project Paramount granted Coppola in a bid to secure his services for a film he wasn’t interested in making (that would be The Godfather Part II); The Conversation is a detective film crossed with a character study, reimagined as the quintessential 1970s paranoid thriller.

Harry Caul (Hackman) is a career wiretapper. A skilled audio surveillance man who’s (ironically) well-known in the spy-forhire field of surreptitious informationgathering. A loner and an outsider, Harry is ideally suited to his craft not only because he’s a man of such unprepossessing countenance that he doesn’t even seem to occupy the space he’s inhabiting, but because he lives his life by the credo: "Don’t get involved." Amongst the many complex gadgets and devices in his professional arsenal, Harry’s emotional detachment and studied lack of curiosity are his most valued.

Gene Hackman as Harry Caul Indeed, “Nothing personal” could be the byline on his business cards. That is, were Harry the type of man to actually use business cards. I’m sure he'd think they divulge entirely too much personal information.

Like defense lawyers who revel in thrust-&-parry courtroom skirmishes, triumphant in victories, yet heedless of the drunk drivers and hardened criminals their legal machinations assist in getting back on the streets; when it comes to gathering secret information, Harry sees himself simply as a techie. He enjoys solving the strategic and electronic puzzles posed by his job, but never gives a thought as to why his clients want his services, what they will do with the

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material he provides, or whether or not he is in any way culpable for any misfortune that might befall others as a result of his actions. "I am in no way responsible" and "It has nothing to do with me" are his professional mantras.

But unless one is a sociopath, indifference to human suffering always comes at a price. And for Harry (a man haunted by the memory of the part his work played in bringing about the brutal torture deaths of an entire family) the price is that he has become a man who strives not to be seen or known by others because he most vehemently wishes he didn’t have to see or know anything about himself.

Harry’s trademark professional detachment is put to the test when a logistically complex, otherwise routine surveillance job (involving the recording of a conversation between a man and a woman in San Francisco’s crowded Union Square) unearths a probable murder plot. In listening and re-listening to his recording of what on the surface sounds like a wholly innocuous conversation between two clandestine young lovers (Williams and Forrest), Harry comes to believe, with mounting certainty, that he is once again in a situation where the plying of his trade will bring about the deaths of innocent people—in this instance, a young couple who speak as though they live in dire fear of someone.

Compelled by equal parts empathy (the woman reminds him of Amy, his neglected girlfriend), the dread of history repeating itself, and the chance for (self)absolution; Harry breaks his cardinal rule of not allowing himself to feel anything about the subjects of his surveillance work. Thus, devoid of any clear plan of action, he resolves to do what he can to prevent what he still only just suspects, but most certainly fears.

John Cazale as Stan

As Harry Caul delves deeper into an investigation of the mystery, The Conversation chillingly reveals that there’s more to matters of comprehension, interpretation, and perception than meets the ear.

Harrison Ford as Martin Stett If post Depression era films are typified by their reinforcement of the principle that the individual and common man still wields power and influence (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Meet John Doe) , that the Little Man, through noble means and honesty, stands a chance of triumphing against corrupt institutions and governments; then post-Watergate cinema hammered home the impotence of the average man in the face of widespread moral decay and venality. The Vietnam War and Watergate forced America to lose its illusions about itself. Thus, sixties films like They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, then later, the ‘70s films The Parallax View and Chinatown (both released the same year as The Conversation) all supported the notion that no matter what one does, the decks are stacked, the die is cast, and human intervention is futile in the face of evil's ascendancy.

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Roman Polanski’s Chinatown has a lot in common with The Conversation in that both lead characters (Jack Nicholson’s private eye/Gene Hackman’s wiretap expert) start out as individuals already corrupted by a degree of moral cynicism, but whose fortunes only take a turn for the worse once they develop a conscience.

The Conversation’s Harry Caul is the living embodiment of Vietnam America: a willing, guilt-ridden participant in morally dubious activity who rationalizes the sometimes deadly ramifications of his actions by deluding himself that they have nothing to do with him. This spiritual deal-with-the-devil clearly plagues the devoutly religious Harry in his day-to-day life, resulting in his living a paranoid, loner’s existence of arms-distance friendships, inarticulate romances, and a near-constant suspicion of the motives of others.

But Harry’s Achilles heel and one tragic flaw, is that (despite best his efforts) he really hasn't become as callous and indifferent as he'd like to be. He's a man who struggles with his humanity (he goes to confession) in a world that continually reassures him that it is a liability and source of pain. Harry's uncharacteristic” decision to involve himself in trying to save the lives of the two lovers in the park is an attempt by Harry to save his own life as well. The source and substance of his dread is that if this assignment turns out like the other, with innocent lives lost, he may find his soul irretrievably lost and banished.

"This is no ordinary conversation. It makes me feel...something...."

Teri Garr as Amy Fredericks A prevailing characteristic of the '70s paranoid thriller is how they provide no reassurance that conspiracies aren’t real.

Nor do they contradict the notion of paranoia is a rational, reasonable response to a reality of diminished privacy and corrupt authority figures.

Conceivably as a means of conveying to the audience Harry Caul is a better man than his choice of profession would belie (he's more a gadget-geek than a spy), The Conversation establishes from the get-go that Harry is singularly ineffectual when it comes to keeping his life private; is not Cindy Williams as Ann nearly the stealthy, opaque character he imagines himself to be; and in the end, rather than being too paranoid, the film suggests that Harry is perhaps not paranoid enough.

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Frederic Forrest as Mark

Robert Duvall as The Director/Mr. C./Charles

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Nowhere Man

"He'd kill us if he had the chance."

The virtuoso opening sequence was shot by cinematographer Haskell Wexler (although Bill Butler shot the rest of the film). The contributions of film editor Richard Chew and the brilliant Oscar-nominated sound work of Walter Murch & Art Rochester can't be overstated.

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Allen Garfield as William P. "Call me Bernie" Moran

Elizabeth MacRae as Meredith (Best known to folks of my generation as Lou-Ann Poovie, Jim Nabors' girlfriend on Gomer Pyle: USMC)

For example: In spite of multiple locks on his door, an alarm system, and a failure to divulge personal information to anyone, Harry's landlady not only finds out his birthday and how old he is, but manages to leave a gift for him inside his apartment when he is away. This scene, coming as it does after the opening sequence which detailed how

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anyone can be observed anywhere, is notable for the open blinds in Harry's apartment, revealing a moving construction crane ostensibly working outside of his window (an element made more obvious in the original script). A point that later plays into answering a third act disclosure revealing Harry’s mysterious employer has always had an ominous awareness of his comings and goings.

A recurring motif contributing to the bleakness of The Conversation's world view is that Harry really is the most vulnerable person in the film. Unable to connect with anyone (not even the couple he's trying to save), he is easily followed, bugged, tricked, spied upon, and, in those moments when he does try to open up, too easily betrayed. In the end, it's clear Harry is both a victim and a (unwitting?) victimizer at risk of dying by the very sword he's lived by.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT THIS FILM Harry grows uneasy when his girlfriend Amy lets on that she knows The Conversation is an intriguing, genuinely he spies on her and listens to her phone calls chilling thriller. Made all the more compelling by having the tropes of its genre structure (that of a plot-driven, detective suspense thriller) being applied to what is essentially a character study. And while people take precedence over plot in The Conversation, what a doozy of a plot! (In 1975, Gene Hackman would play a private investigator in Arthur Penn's Night Moves, another nihilist '70s spin on the 1940s film noir.)

The film is at its most successful when drawing the viewer into questioning the significance of banal dialogue or mundaneBarriers appearing activities. The Conversation mines the suspense in the bland characters and gritty squalor of their lives in a way that reminds me of what Alan J. Pakula did with New York lowlife in Klute (1971).

And for evoking paranoia and isolation, the purposeful use of San Francisco locations in The Conversation recall for me Philip Kaufman’s brilliant 1978 remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

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PERFORMANCES The Conversation was not a success when released in April of 1974, and come December’s release of Coppola’s The Godfather, Part II, it was all but forgotten. It did garner three Academy Award nominations (Best Picture, Original Screenplay, & Sound), but in a tough acting year crowded by the likes of Jack Nicholson (Chinatown), Dustin Hoffman ( Lenny), Al Pacino (The Godfather, Part II), and Albert Finney (Murder on the Orient Express), Gene There's a big retro kick to be had seeing the primitive sound equipment on display Hackman's commanding and sensitive performance was crowded out. (I love Art Carney, but his Harry & Tonto nomination and win is baffling in context of what was around in 1974.)

In Harry Caul, Gene Hackman (2nd choice after Marlon Brando turned down the role) gives what I consider to be the best performance of his very impressive career.

Portraying a closed-off character is always a challenge; playing one who must convey to the audience the gradual reawakening of conscience is something else again. The entirety of whatever dramatic effectiveness or potential for audience involvement The Conversation has rests on the credibility of Hackman’s transformation (tellingly, the film All the supporting performances in The Conversation are outstanding, but doesn’t require that you like Harry). On that Elizabeth MacRae as the sad-eyed trade-show model is surprisingly good score, Hackman—with the inestimable contribution of the film's uniformly remarkable cast—is nothing short of extraordinary.

THE STUFF OF FANTASY If you’re familiar with The Conversation at all, you’ve likely read or heard about the fortuitous transcription error which resulted in the original last name of Gene Hackman’s character being changed from Call (perhaps a little too precious for a serious film about a wiretapper, anyway) to the homophonous and oh-so Not sure if it's true, but I remember reading that Hackman gained weight and partially evocative Caul; the name given shaved his head for the role. The latter proving so problematic in growing back that it contributed to that transparent protective his refusal to shave his head for the role of Lex Luthor in Superman: The Movie (1978) membrane surrounding a fetus.

Not one to spit in in the eye of serendipity, Coppola builds upon this happy spelling error and uses it as both an allusive reference to Harry’s overly self-protective personality, and a springboard for a series of recurring visual

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motifs dramatizing the human instinct to emotionally insulate out of fear, regret, and guilt.

The motif of protective membranes simultaneously protecting and isolating individuals is further conveyed in The Conversation's use of obfuscating veils of semi-transparent surfaces. It also suggests Harry, in being so wound up in his inner conflicts, doesn't see things clearly and has a blurred perspective of events and people.

Coppola and cinematographer Bill Butler (Demon Seed) frequently rely on wide-angle shots to cut the frame into sections, dramatically emphasizing The Rain or shine, the emotionally embryonic Harry is rarely seen without Conversation's themes of isolation, his "protective" transparent plastic raincoat loneliness, and the inability to communicate or emotionally connect.

THE STUFF OF DREAMS Beyond its obvious Watergate-era appeal and glimpse into a cultural zeitgeist I still remember vividly; I have to say that what most makes The Conversation a film I can rewatch endlessly (per my tendency to gravitate to films from which I can glean insights into the human condition) is that it is a powerful and persuasive allegory about the risk in allowing oneself to be vulnerable.

Characters in The Conversation are fond of repeating phrases like “You’re not supposed scene depicting a cagey Harry talking to a colleague he doesn't trust (Garfield) to feel anything” and “Nothing personal”; but In this Hackman is filmed through a plastic sheet that could just as well be a barrier as (I hope) we all know, life is very personal, and any attempt to connect authentically with another human being is fraught with risk. It hurts; it’s messy; it invades your space and disrupts order; it leaves you exposed to betrayal, misunderstanding, and rejection. And worst of all, it comes with no guarantees. On the contrary, it comes with the unequivocal assurance that the closer you get to someone…the better they know you…the more open and exposed you allow yourself to be...the greater the potential for them to do you harm.

The crucial details of a harrowing event are obscured behind a gauze curtain But what of the alternative? Is it possible to exist among others with life’s only objective being the hope that your path never intersects with another; that “nothing personal” transpires to invade your heart and cause you pain? As Harry Caul learns, not only does one embark on a course of self-isolation at the risk of losing one's soul and humanity, but the biggest irony is how life has a way of happening to you no matter how diligently you try to keep it at bay. As the saying goes, no one here gets out alive.

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The Conversation is a peerless ‘70s paranoia thriller, one certainly not lacking in present-day parallels. But the film's paranoia/conspiracy theme is but one of the many layers making up this intelligent, superbly-crafted film. Like the audio tapes that plague Harry throughout the movie, The Conversation imparts more information and more insights the more you watch it.

A glass partition prevents intervention while revealing only enough to horrify

A figure lies shrouded in a membrane of clear plastic

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The wide angle and strong vertical lines created by the support beams in Harry's vast warehouse work space create a sense of emotional desolation while simultaneously conveying a feeling of being hemmed in

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In this office set, vertical lines once again create isolated frames distancing the characters from one another. Meanwhile, the membrane motif is recalled by the clear plastic window shades, the central image dominated by an instrument of privacy invaded (the telescope)

Separate, Yet Connected One of my favorite images from the film, Harry stands on the balcony of the Jack Tar Hotel in San Francisco, its design and layout creating a wall of isolated, sealed-off environments

Watched

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Watching

Watcher

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BONUS MATERIAL

This is the stationery letterhead for Coppola's American Zoetrope San Francisco offices when they were housed in the Columbus Tower on Kearny. Someone familiar with Coppola's history should help clear this up, but the letterhead graphic (depicting a dog with a camera in the center of a plate) is a image a child's dish set from Coppola's youth or that of his father. I'd written to them in my senior year in high school inquiring about film schools.

Elizabeth MacRae in a 1967 episode of Gomer Pyle: USMC highlighting the character of aspiring singer Lou-Ann Poovie.

Professional mime Robert Shields, then a real life annoyance, er...I mean, entertainer in San Francisco's Union Square when I was a kid, appears as himself in the film's opening sequence. He teamed with wife and fellow mime Lorene Yarnell in 1977 for the Shields & Yarnell variety show on CBS. Both are very skilled and talented, but since I'm personally terrified of mimes, their having their own hour-long TV program constitutes one of those "only in the '70s" phenomenons.

The Conversation on DVD & Blu-Ray

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I haven't heard the commentary Francis Ford Coppola supplies for the most recent DVD release of The Conversation, but from what I've read, it offers a wealth of info into the making of the film (Harrison Ford got a bead on his character when Coppola informed him that Martin Stett was gay), and what was ultimately cut from the film (Harry is revealed to be the secret owner of the apartment building he occupies, he is plagued by overly-friendly neighbors, there was a subplot involving a niece [Mackenzie Phillips], and the betrayal Harry suffers at the hands of a character was not as conspiratorially sinister as it is in the finished film).

Copyright Š Ken Anderson

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